Powder-folding device



(No Model.)

No. 563,949. Patented July 14, 1896.

LUZ/755555 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES DICKINSON, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT.

POWDER-FOLDING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 563,949, dated July 14, 1896.

Application filed April 23, 1895- Serial No 546,846. (No model.)

To all w/wm it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES DICKINSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Folding and Holding Package Papers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in an apparatus for folding and holding packagepapers for various uses; and the main objects of my improvement are to fold several packages of a given length to fit some particular size of box and to hold the packages in a pile as fast as they are folded, so that the pile when complete may be readily transferred from the holder to its proper box.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a plan view, and Fig. 4 is a central vertical section with the centralparts mainly in elevation.

A designates the base, to the front part of which is secured the table-standard 5. The upper end of this standard is slotted to receive the lower ends of the swinging tablearms 6 7, which are secured in place by a bolt 8 passing through said arms and standard, the outer or front end of said bolt being provided with a thumb-nut 18 for clamping the arms to hold them in any desired position. An extension-table is mounted on the upper ends of these arms, one member 9 of said table being hinged to the arm 6 and the other member 10 to the arm 7. One member slides longitudinally within the other in proper guides. As illustrated, the member 9 slides within the member 10, and they are shown with the table contracted to its shortest length.

At the rear of the extension-table there are two guide-rods 11 and 12, the rod 12 being slotted at its upper end to receive the lever- ].atch 13, which is pivoted thereto and whose rear or handle end is so heavy as to give said latch a tendency to project its beveled end in front of the guide-rod 12 whenever said end is pressed back and then released. Arranged upon the guide-rods 11 and 12 below the latch is a yielding platform 17, that is continually acted upon by a spring 14, Fig. 4:, with a tendency to force said platform against or toward the latch 13. The thickened rear part of the latch at its lower edge strikes against the rear side of the guide-rod 12 and prevents the nose or forward end of the latch from being forced upwardly beyond the position shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The spiral spring 14, although of considerable length, is

confined in its position and protected by the telescopic tubes 15 and rod 16. The yielding platform 17 is not only at the rear of the extension-table and adjacent thereto, but its longest dimension extends in the same direction parallel thereto, and when in its normal position it is approximately at the same height.

All of the parts are inseparably attached to a common base, and the folding-table and holder are permanent parts of a single apparatus.

I have described my apparatus somewhat in detail in order to give the best known mode of construction, but I do not wish by so doing to in any way limit my invention to the details thus described,reserving the usual rights of equivalents and such changes as belong to the expected skill of the mechanic. The apparatus is applicable to folding and holding various package-papers, as will readily be seen by showing its adaptation to the use of druggists in putting up medicine in the form of powders.

The powders are properly divided and placed upon the prescribed number of papers, which are first folded in the usual way except turning over the ends. A box of the proper size is selected to receive the packages, and then by loosening the thumb-nut 18 and swinging the table-arms the extension-table is adjusted to the desired length, just a little shorter than one dimension of the box, and is secured in its adjusted position by tightening said thumb-nut. The broken lines in Fig. 3 indicate an extended position of the table. The packages one by one are then laid upon said table with their ends projecting, and the projecting ends are turned down over the ends of the table to break them and give the desired line of cross-fold. Each package is lifted from the table and its ends completely folded over and then placed upon the yielding platform, meanwhile depressing the platform somewhat, so that the edge of the package will strike the beveled face of the latch and push it backwardlyto let the package by it, after which the latch returns by gravity. The pressure upon the platform is then rcleased and the package is firmly held between said platform and the latch. The other packages are treated in like manner, placing the second package on the first one in putting it in the holder, the third on the second, and so on to the last, when the entire pile will be snugly held in the holder under the latch. The pile may then be grasped at one time by the hand, the latch turned back and the well-arranged pile transferred to the intended box.

Although the ends of the table form the breaker over which the package ends are turned, the table between said ends performs a useful function in holding the package flat as the ends are turned, thus insuring that each package will be folded of the desired length. If there was no table or support between the ends of the table ends or points where the package ends are turned down, the length would be liable to Vary owing to the middle of the package being depressed or deflected at the time when the ends were turned over, but by having an extension-table and thereby having a support between the adjust able ends any Variation in length by depressing the middle portion of the package is avoided.

I claim as my invention 1. In a powder-folder the combination. of the swinging arms and the extension-table mounted upon the ends of said arms and forming a support between their ends, substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

2. An apparatus for folding and holding package-papers having a fl at measuring-table over the front portion of its base, means for contracting and extending the flat surface of said table for supporting and measuring different lengths, and means for securing it in, position when set for the desired. length, substantially as described and for the purpose specified.

CHARLES DICKINSON. \Vitnesses:

.TAMEs SHEPARD, A. \V. STIPEK. 

